A MicroZine Interview w/Justin Deming

6 Questions on Microfiction

Justin Deming

is the prolific writer of Fifties by the Fire. He writes

Along the Hudson

. You can purchase his collection 50 Fifties: A Justin Deming Literary Project.

1. When did you first start writing microfiction?

I started writing microfiction in 2018 or 2019 over at Medium.com. It was a perfect place to experiment and share my fiction publicly. In 2019, I fell in love with the fifty-word format and decided to create my own publication: The Friday Fix. (My tag line: “Tough week? Self-medicate with a dose of microfiction!”) You can still access the site and read archived stories

My goal was to build a community dedicated to writing and sharing fifty-word stories based on a weekly prompt. Every Friday, I published dozens of stories (I believe I ended up capping the weekly stories at fifty because there were an overwhelming number of submissions). I also had to reject stories for numerous reasons. It became a lot of work for me and ultimately, I decided to move on from the endeavor.

My new Substack series, Fifties by the Fire, requires much less of my time, and it still has the same core qualities: prompt-based, fifty-word stories. And the writers who participate are incredibly talented and supportive!

2. What kind of microfiction do you write? Any specific length or genre? How often?

Generally speaking, I'm drawn to fifty-word stories (or Fifties as I like to call them) because of the process required to write one effectively. But I do enjoy writing 100-word stories from time to time as well. I host Fifties by the Fire twice a month, so I write at least two fifty-word stories monthly.

3. Describe your microfiction writing process.

When sitting to write a fifty-word story, I often have an idea in mind, a theme I'd like to integrate, or an emotion I'd like to evoke within the reader. That's step one. Step two is accidentally writing way over the fifty-word limit. In all seriousness, I tend to overshoot the landing when drafting these stories.

But this is perhaps my favorite part of these exercises: getting the chance to sculpt.

Just like a glob of clay or a block of wood, I refine the piece until it's exactly where I want it to be. Every word matters. They should all add to the emotional depth of the piece or advance the story in some fashion.

4. Have you ever submitted your microfiction to a contest or publication before? If so, why and where? If not, why not?

Yes! I've had a handful of microfiction stories published in a variety of places: Fifty Word Stories, Spelk, and Five Minutes. (Five Minutes is technically 100-word creative nonfiction.) I entered a contest there in the Spring of 2022 and was the runner-up!

5. What advice would you give someone who is on the fence about writing microfiction?

I would tell them to get off the fence and give it a whirl! Microfiction is a lot of fun, and it doesn't necessarily take a lot of time to write. (Let's be honest...penning a novel requires exponentially more time!) I would also encourage writers to try a story with a specific word count: 50, 100, 250. Economizing language and considering word choice are necessities when writing microfiction. In turn, this practice will improve one's writing.

6. Share either your favorite piece or most recent microfiction that you’ve written.

I'm proud of these more recent fifty-word stories. The titles are: No Rest, Lost Era, Skyward, Looking Back, and Finding His Beat. I think there's a story in there for everyone.

A Fistful of Fifties

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BONUS QUESTION: Who is your favorite microfiction writer?

Oof! Tough question. Three of my favorite microfiction writers on Substack are

Jimmy Doom

,

Meg Oolders

, and

Sharron Bassano

.

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Special thanks to Justin Deming for answering these questions.